It’s time! The Beat’s Annual Creator Survey is where we look forward to the year to come and reflect a little on what has just passed in comic, with opinions from a wide swath of industry creators, pundits and retailers. This time out, because 2016 was a little rough, I’ve added a question about what inspires our survey takers, because we can all use a little something to feel good about.

Here’s the third part of our annual creator survey with a varied look from people in all aspects of the business from creators to publishers to journalists. As always, buried among the answers you will find a bunch of news items for the sharp eyed and also some preview art. In case you haven’t noticed, our panel certainly did: 2015 was the year diversity broke around the comics industry, although much, much, much more needs to be done. Read on to see what our our respondents thought about the year past and what they have coming for 2016.

Yep it’s the return of an annual Beat tradition that goes back nearly a decade, as comic folk from every level of the industry — creators, reporters, retailers, publshers—talk about the issues of the year past and look at the issues of the year to come. There are always a lot of thoughtful answers in this survey, but this year a LOT of very important and thought-provoking topics are looked at from crowdfunding to harassment.

And as always, there are previews and news scattered in the 2014 projects. So settle in and enjoy—there is so much more to come.